New to this? Read it in simple words
- The Opera browser can now run AI on your own computer.
- Websites and add-ons can then use that AI without sending your data away.
- It is an early test that you must turn on yourself.
- The AI is only as fast as your computer.
- Local AI
- An AI model that runs on your own device instead of on a company’s servers.
- Web standard
- A shared set of rules that lets websites work the same way in different browsers.
- Open model
- An AI model whose files anyone can download and run.
Opera first offered local AI models in a test version for developers in 2024. Now the feature reaches its everyday browsers.
What WebAI does
WebAI lets websites and browser extensions use AI models that the browser runs on the user’s computer. Opera says it can write text, sort content into groups and work out how pieces of information relate.
Opera’s version adds three tools for developers: the Prompt, Decision and Semantic Embeddings APIs, Opera’s developer blog says. Opera has also released example extensions to show what can be built.
Opera calls WebAI “a proposed web standard, backed by companies such as Google and Microsoft.” It is not yet an agreed standard that other browsers have adopted.
From Opera’s announcement of October 27, 2026, and reports.
Which models, and who can use it
At launch, users can pick Google’s open model Gemma and, on Macs, Apple’s on-device model, 9to5Mac and TechCrunch report. Opera says WebAI is not tied to one model.
The preview works on 64-bit Windows computers with Intel or AMD chips and on Macs with Apple silicon, Opera says. It starts in Opera One, and Opera GX and Opera Neon will follow.
To try it, users turn on “Enable Web AI API” in Opera’s AI settings, and the browser then downloads a local model, Thurrott reports.
Privacy and its limits
Opera says the information the local AI handles stays on the user’s own device. Users choose which websites may use it.
Running AI locally does not remove every privacy risk, but it gives users more control, TechCrunch notes. It also puts more load on the computer, so performance depends on its hardware, Opera says.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1Primary source · October 27, 2026Opera doubles down on local AI, shipping models directly in its browsers Opera
- 2Research · October 27, 2026Opera introduces a new web standard to let users deploy AI locally in their browser TechCrunch
- 3
- 4
- 5Research · October 27, 2026Opera One now lets Mac users run Apple’s Foundation Model directly in the browser 9to5Mac
Google’s and Microsoft’s backing of WebAI is Opera’s own claim. Reports disagree on whether Opera GX and Neon already have the preview, so we follow Opera’s release.
Opera lets websites use AI that runs on your own PC. Silicon AI News, October 28, 2026. https://siliconainews.com/stories/opera-webai-local-ai-browser
Opera’s opt-in early preview lets sites use AI on the user’s own computer, keeping data on the device, though speed depends on hardware. How we rate the mood
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